Barcode Nation

Reports that police have been granted new powers to snoop on your PC without a warrant have been denied by the Home Office.
 
According to the Sunday Times report, the Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan via Europe to allow police across Britain to conduct “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers to [...]

Following yesterday’s post on the child surveillance tool ContactPoint, comes the news that a London borough are to encourage parents to keep their children’s details secret.
If the communications initiative by the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea catches on, the Government will come under serious pressure to abandon the costly and controversial database.
Merrick Cockell, the leader [...]

As “Auld Lang Syne” rings out around the world, stop for a moment to take a look at what horrors are in store over the next 12 months.
We have the ludicrously expensive ID card monster crawling into action. The National Identity Register, the backbone for the cards. The DNA database, soundly slammed by Europe. The [...]

According to today’s Guardian, the private sector will be asked to manage and run a communications database that will keep track of everyone’s calls, emails, texts and internet use. This latest step towards a full surveillance state will be revealed in a consultation paper to be published next month by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
The article hints [...]

NO2ID has released a controversial new video attacking the National Identity Register. Have a read of the background to Take Jane, watch the video and let us know what you think.

Ladies and gentlemen. If you’ll gather round, we proudly present, Form 696.
This innocent looking Word document has caused a stir on the London music scene, where venues are now required to submit details of performers including real names, home addresses and private telephone numbers, plus the expected ethnic make-up of the audience. Failure to comply [...]